Steve Tolle and his wife, Emily Tolle, take a selfie in front of the re-opened Earl of Sandwich in the Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct 1, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The popular Earl of Sandwich restaurant reopened at noon in Anaheim’s Downtown Disney on Monday, delighting its many fans who had bemoaned its closure in June.

Kristin Bates, left, gets excited as Earl of Sandwich manager Cassie Montoro tells her they’ve re-opened in the Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct 1, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

New tables and chairs have replaced the old benches at the re-opened Earl of Sandwich in the Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct 1, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Earl of Sandwich manager Cassie Montoro takes a picture of Gil Berry as they re-open in the Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct 1, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A visitor to the Downtown Disney District takes a picture of the re-opened Earl of Sandwich at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct 1, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jim Stanley, CEO of Earl of Sandwich USA, with manager Cassie Montoro outside their re-opened restuarant in the Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct 1, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The re-opened Earl of Sandwich at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct 1, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Steve Tolle and his wife, Emily Tolle, take a selfie in front of the re-opened Earl of Sandwich in the Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct 1, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Kristin Bates, left, shares a laugh with Earl of Sandwich manager Cassie Montoro as she tells her they’ve re-opened in the Downtown Disney District at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Monday, Oct 1, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The site’s reopening was briefly delayed Monday by minor glitches, but it was open and serving customers by noon, spokeswoman Amy Sadowsky said. “We are absolutely delighted to be back and we’re looking forward to reconnecting with our loyal customers,” Sadowsky said.

The AMC complex is reportedly slated to move to Anaheim GardenWalk, while the interior fixtures for both the Rainforest Cafe and ESPN Zone were removed, making it difficult to reestablish their businesses.

While the Downtown Disney Earl of Sandwich wasn’t known for cutting-edge gourmet fare, it offers arguably the only budget dining option at the upscale Disney mall, where a chicken sandwich is more likely to cost $18 than the $8.99 it costs at the Earl of Sandwich.

Steve and Emily Tolle of Sacramento were in town celebrating their 10th anniversary, and made a special visit to the sandwich shop, initially unaware that it had closed down and reopened.

“We’ve been coming here every five years,” Steve Tolle said. “The first time we came I looked down and said, ‘Wow, we got out of here for under $20. That was amazing.’ A family of four could eat for $40. Two turkey legs would probably cost you that in the park.”

The president of the 32-restaurant Earl of Sandwich chain was in Anaheim on Monday overseeing the opening day. Jim Stanley said it was because of a “groundswell of support” from loyal customers and Disneyland cast members that the Anaheim branch reopened.

Stanley said that the company had been talking to Disney about possibly opening up a pop-up restaurant on the site and perhaps later opening in the new hotel when they got a call asking if they’d be interested in reopening their former store in the same location. Luckily, he said, the only fixtures that had been removed were the picnic tables on the patio, with everything else still intact.

“We hadn’t taken the signage down, even though Disney wanted us to,” Stanley said.

The Anaheim store was historically the second-highest-grossing in the chain, after the flagship store at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World, he said. The location served an average 1,500-2,000 people per day, up to 3,000 on the busiest days. He estimated some 65 percent of the Anaheim location’s new staff members were actually returnees from the previous run.

Edvin Merida of Garden Grove was among the employees who chose to return after the summer hiatus. He works mornings.

“As soon as they called me, I wanted to come back,” Merida said. “It’s like family here. I saw one (customer) I knew this morning, and he said, ‘Thank you for coming back.’”

The June closure was particularly bad timing for Disney hotel guests looking to save money, because the Tangaroa Terrace restaurant at the Disneyland Hotel and the White Water Snacks at Disney’s Grand Californian are currently both closed for remodeling.

It remains unclear how long the Earl will reign in Anaheim, although talks have been underway about moving the Anaheim store to an as-yet-undisclosed location. Some fans hope that it will eventually reside in the new hotel, assuming it is ever built. The restaurant, which opened in 2012, is part of a 32-location chain that’s a subsidiary of the Planet Hollywood company.

Will the hotel ever be built?

Stanley said he didn’t know.

“We’d just like to say thank you to all our loyal customers who talked to Disney about us,” Stanley said. “It’s gratifying.”

Marla Jo Fisher was a workaholic hard news reporter before she adopted two children from foster care at age 46, picked up a scruffy dog along the way and somehow managed to keep them all alive, at least so far. She now writes the Frumpy Middle-Age Mom humor column that appears in the Orange County Register weekly. Due to her status as the cheapest person alive, she also writes about deals and bargains for the Register, including her Cheapo Travel column which also runs in newspapers around the country. When she's not having a nervous breakdown, she's usually traveling somewhere cheaply and writing about it.